Sara Cooper Trilogy: Cooper Comeback
by That Geek
Summary: Part 1/3 After Sly's daughter Sara starts having strange dreams about his ancient enemy Clockwerk, and after an attempt on her life by an unwilling assassin, Sly will reunite with Bentley and Murray and begin to train his daughter as the next Cooper Thief
1. Prologue

_Author's Note: Smarty and the Geek present their second Fanfiction: Sara Cooper Part 1: Cooper Comeback. Just to alleviate some fears, this is all PRE-WRITTEN so no fear of discontinuation. _

_Disclaimer: I do not own Sly Cooper, if I did then Sly 4 would have come out already._

**Cooper Comeback**

**Prologue:**

**The New Cooper**

A ringtail raccoon dodged past the bustling rush hour pedestrian traffic going home after work. He was pushed side to side by the bustling crowd, each and every one hurrying home to their husbands, wives, and children. A black panther glared back at the ringtail that had pushed him out of his way.

"Hey, watch it buddy!" he shouted angrily. The ringtail turned his head at the panther; the latter then quickly saluting the ringtail in recognition. "Constable Cooper, so sorry sir. How is Inspector Cooper?"

"She's giving birth to our first kid!" he shouted, exhausted but beaming with happiness.

"Oh, good luck sir!" the panther shouted back.

"Thanks." Sly darted away, carefully picking his way through the crowd of commuters to the hospital. He stopped as he saw the next block of commuters and moaned in exasperation, he would never reach the hospital in time. Sly never noticed the flame-patterned blue van pull up next to him. Not until a pink hippopotamus stuck his head out the window and tapped Sly on the arm did he look over. He smiled as he recognized his old friend.

"Murray!" he called happily.

"Hey Sly, you need a hand reaching the hospital little buddy?" Murray asked with a grin.

"That'd be great." He gratefully clambered into the van and sank into the front passenger seat. A small gloved hand tapped Sly on the shoulder, making him turn around and smile again.

"Bentley!"

"Hey there Sly. Are you excited? Scared?" he asked

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, you're about to become a father. Shouldn't you be feeling something?"

"I'm feeling a lot of things. So many things it's just too difficult to pick them apart." Sly started trying to breathe smoothly. What was wrong with him? He had broken into museums and mansions full of guards that were more than ready to kill him without a single feeling of fear, but… the idea of becoming a father, it scared him. As the van pulled up in front of the hospital, Murray and Bentley turned to their friend.

"So, this is it I guess; the end of the Cooper Gang?" he asked sadly.

"It might be." Murray's eyes started watering and he pulled Sly into a gigantic hug.

"I'm gonna miss you Sly!" he sobbed into Sly's hat. Bentley's eyes also started watering.

"I'm gonna miss you too buddy." He circled his arms around Sly's middle, leaning far out of his wheelchair to reach the raccoon's middle. Sly just stood there, his two best friends crushing him and drowning him in tears.

"Hey, this isn't the end," he assured.

"But, you've chosen to follow the path of justice for Carmelita," he sniffled, wiping his eyes.

"What Carmelita doesn't know won't hurt her." He grinned a classic Cooper grin.

"You aren't serious," he said, releasing Sly's waist and falling back in his wheelchair.

"What?" he asked, releasing Sly as well.

"Sly, you can't continue to live a life of crime behind her back, not with a kid!" he yelled.

"I don't see why not," he smirked.

"Ughh, sometimes I don't know why I try." Sly got out of the van, smiled at his friends, and ran into the hospital.

Inside the main entrance of the hospital, Sly walked up to the clerk's desk. The clerk looked up and smiled.

"Cooper; Maternity ward; 4th floor; room 439. Sly took the elevator up to the fourth floor and wandered the halls until he found room 439. He opened the door nervously, looking at the bed to see Carmelita holding a small pink bundle. Sly walked in with a bit more confidence, looking down at the small bundle of pink blankets.

"Hi."

"Hey." Sly bent down to kiss Carmelita on the snout. He looked down at her nervously; he had missed the delivery which would certainly mean instant destruction. Sly felt the need to explain himself.

"I'm so sorry about being late, Barkley wouldn't let me go, I had a case, then I-I couldn't get a ride and the pedestrian traffic was terrible and…" Carmelita put a finger up to his lips to silence him.

"It's okay, I understand. At least now our baby can meet its daddy." Carmelita indicated the pink bundle laid against her chest. Sly pulled back the fold of pink cloth covering a small, gray snout. It was a beautiful baby girl. Sly could already tell that she would look almost exactly like Carmelita when she grew up, the only difference being her ash grey fur. A pair of blue eyes stared at her father with curiosity, her thumb stuck in her small mouth. Sly sat down on the end of the bed, staring down at the curious, small baby.

"What do we call her?" he asked in a soft voice.

"Nothing too long, just a short, simple name." Sly furrowed his brow in thought.

"How about…Sara?" Carmelita smiled, nodding in approval.

"Sara Maria Cooper."

"Maria? Where'd that come from?" Carmelita shrugged.

"It's my mother's name." Sly shrugged as well then nodded in approval of the name. Carmelita smiled and pulled Sly down for a kiss. He pulled away from the kiss and looked down to see that Sara had already fallen asleep in Carmelita's arms.

"Well, looks like Sara's tuckered out already," he chuckled.

"Well, frankly, so am I." She laid her head on the pillow and shut her eyes. It wasn't long until Sly heard gentle breathing coming from both mother and child. He got up from the bed and went back down to the van. He handed the Binocucom he had slipped into the maternity ward to Murray and Bentley. He had taken a couple of pictures of Sara sleeping; it was his little way of giving his old friends a connection to his new life. Then, as he expected, Murray burst into tears again and started crushing the raccoon.

"_Murray_!" he shrieked as his body was crushed.

"Sorry. It's just that I'm gonna miss you so much!" He started crushing Sly even more. Sly was amazingly able to hand his friend a handkerchief from underneath the tight embrace. The large hippopotamus blew into the small piece of white cloth and tried to give it back to Sly.

"Uhh, you keep it, Murray." Murray stowed the small piece of cloth in his pocket and thankfully didn't crush Sly again. Bentley wheeled himself forward and put out a hand to shake Sly's. Sly smiled at his friend but avoided the handshake. He picked up the turtle and hugged him.

"I'm gonna miss you, Bentley," he said.

"I'm happy for you."

"Hey, you never know. You and Penelope might…" Bentley silenced him with a look.

"Sly, no."

"Suit yourself," he grinned. Murray turned over to the other two.

"Hey Sly, even if you are gonna lead the Cooper gang behind Carmelita's back, you're still gonna be gone a long time. You know, taking care of the baby; so how about one ride together, one guy's day before we leave off for our separate ways." Sly nodded.

"Okay, but I'm gonna need a good cover." Bentley took out a bag from under the dashboard.

"_There's_ your cover story." Sly looked in to see baby toys.

"Good thinking."

"That's why I'm the brains," Bentley said smugly. All three laughed, and headed out for one last guy's day.

_Author's Note: Peese Review._


	2. The Life of the NotSoAverage Hybrid

**Chapter 1:**

**The Life of the Not-So-Average Hybrid**

_**Ten Years later…almost**_

_My life is so weird, then again, whose isn't? Oh, sorry, you don't have any idea what I'm talking about. My name is Sara, Sara Maria Cooper. My parents are an Inspector and Constable for this international police force called Interpol. My dad suffers from amnesia, or at least it seems like that sometimes. Whenever my mom's around, Dad acts like he doesn't remember anything since about three years before I was born, but when my mom is away, that's when he starts acting weird. He tells me all about our glorious ancestors, the Coopers. He thinks he used to be a master thief that gave up his life of crime to raise a family. Then he usually tries to train me in the old Cooper ways, it's actually pretty fun being around Dad in this state. Weird, but fun._

_Then, there's my mom; the tough, kick-butt detective, using her looks and a fully loaded Shock Pistol to put criminals out of commission. She's always trying to bring me to a life of crime fighting, talking about all the wonderful and rewarding experiences. Maybe it could be exciting but there is just one thing I cannot ignore: some of Mom's coworkers are just plain __creepy. _

_Now something about me, well, I'm not really a girly-girl but I'm not a tomboy either. I'm the middle person who does some girly things and some guy things. I get bullied by almost everyone because I'm a half breed; apparently it's unethical for people from different species to fall in love. I don't really have that many kid friends but there are a couple of adults who like hearing what I have to say. My bus driver, Ray, is one of them. He's a Hippo that tells great stories about cops and robbers, none of us know how he comes up with this stuff, he's also really strong. The other is the vice-principal of my school, Mr. Green; he's a crippled turtle, a bit of a nerd. He's still pretty cool though, when I get in trouble he understands. I know I have a really great life but…sometimes I just wish there was something else in my life, an adventure like Ray, Mom, and Dad talk about. _

_Sincerely, Sara C._

Sara shut her journal and placed it back in a secret place where neither of her parents would find it. It's not that she was guilty about it; it's just that it's her journal. She had grown a lot in the near ten years since her birth. Her eyes had become a dark brown just like her mother's, her hair had grown long and wavy, stretching down in a ponytail to the small of her back. Faint rings had begun forming on her tail along with the faint outlines of a raccoon mask around her eyes. She pulled out her storybook and started reading, until a knock on the door made her stop. Her mother's voice came through the door.

"Alright you, lights out," she said affectionately but still with authority.

"Yes Mom," she sighed and put the book away. She turned off her lamp and tried to shut her eyes and fall asleep.

_Sara opened her eyes to find herself face to face with a chimney. She looked around and saw that she was on a rooftop of the Paris skyline. Sara stood up on the roof and looked around. It was nighttime and a full moon was high in the sky. Looking down, she saw that she carried a strange cane with a head like a twisted C. Suddenly; her light from the full moon above was blocked. She looked up to see a bird-like form with two glowing eyes hovering before the moon then, suddenly, swooping down at her. Sara had enough sense to run, leaping from rooftop to rooftop to avoid the bird. She looked behind her to see that the bird was actually a giant mechanical owl. The owl grabbed her with its talons, pinning her to the rooftop. She turned around to see the horrible robot's face barely a meter from her own. Pure hatred rained down on her from the eyes, hatred so intense it was almost palpable._

_ "_Cooper_," it hissed in a cold, flat voice. The owl raised its head, opened its beak, and stuck at her face…_

Sara felt a form shaking her violently and shouting her name. She opened her eyes, making a blurry picture of orange surrounded by a cloud of blue in a dark background. Blinking a couple of times, the form came into focus, eventually forming the figure of her mother.

"Sara, it's okay. It's just a dream," her mother cooed. Sara put a hand on her face, making sure everything was still intact.

"It was just so…scary," she whimpered.

"What happened?" her mother asked. Sara thought, then decided not to tell her mother.

"I don't want to talk about it." Her mother nodded in understanding.

"Well, try to get some more sleep alright?" she said, stroking Sara's hair.

"Yeah." She nestled back down in the bed, pulled the covers up, and shut her eyes again. The image of the mechanical owl was burned into her mind. She had had that nightmare before, it had plagued her every night for the past month but she had not told her parents. Her mother would get frightened and take her to some specialist, thinking it might be something caused by the crossbreeding and her father would start acting weird again. That was why she preferred to keep things to herself: how much she was bullied at school, weird dreams and nightmares she's had, seeing weird blue auras around certain objects, the works. With those depressing thoughts in mind, she slipped into unconsciousness, thankfully plagued by no more dreams.

Sara opened her eyes, looking through the fogginess left in her vision. She walked down the stairs slowly to compensate for the fact her vision still wasn't clear of the tired blurriness. She looked around the kitchen, her mother had obviously left for work early but her father was still there. He was one of those employees that are only called out when they need him. Her father looked up and smiled.

"Shouldn't you be getting ready for school?" he asked.

"There isn't any today. End of grading period," she yawned.

"Ah." He tapped his mug of coffee, looking for something to say. "What was all that about last night?"

"Oh just had a bad dream," she said, trying to avoid the subject. However, her father would not be deterred from the subject so easily.

"About what?" She thought for a while. Her dad was a lot more open-minded than her mother. He might understand about it.

"Well, I was alone on the rooftops, it was a full moon. I was just staring up at the full moon when a bird form came over it." Sara couldn't help but notice that her father's ears pricked at the mention of a bird form. "It was a huge bird, but when it swooped down and knocked me to the ground, I noticed that it wasn't a real bird it was…"

"A robot," he finished for her.

"Yeah." She stared up at him in confusion. "How'd you know?" Her father's face showed that he was now avoiding the subject.

"Oh, it's just that I've heard of similar things before." Somehow, Sara didn't think he was telling the truth. "I don't want you to worry about it. That bird can't hurt you." She was still getting the impression her father wasn't telling the whole truth. He looked around at the walls of the kitchen then turned back to her. "Hey, you're mother's going to be stuck in meetings all weekend so I won't have to be in; how about a father-daughter weekend?" Sara wasn't fooled, her father just wanted to get her mind off of the robotic bird.

"Sure Dad," she said. He smiled and ruffled her hair. "_Dad_!" she shouted angrily. She got out from under his hand and patted her hair back into its usual state. She glared at him as she finished patting her hair back out of her face. He only chuckled and went back to whatever it was he had been doing before. Sara was left with questions overflowing her mind: _"How did Dad know it was a mechanical bird? Does he know who this bird is? Is it real and if so, what is his connection to it?"_

Back with Sly, he was on the phone from the study, the door closed so that Sara wouldn't hear.

"It's a go, guys. My daughter is about to join the Cooper Gang," he whispered, looking at the door to make sure his daughter wasn't eavesdropping.

"That's great, Sly," Bentley answered sincerely.

"There's only one problem."

"What?" Murray asked.

"She had a dream…about Clockwerk."


	3. Before the Weekend

_Author's Note: I would like to give a shout out to Pasta 16 for the wonderful review and would like to implore you all to do the same. Enough of that, enjoy the story._

**Chapter 2:**

**Before the Weekend**

Sara sat in the car, her face pressed against the shaded glass of the window. She had hoped to start readying for her weekend with her father but her mother wanted one day with her before she would allow that to happen. Her eyes drifted along the roadway, watching the other kids playing with balls or just running around. Nothing changed along the way until Sara's eyes glanced at the rooftops. On top of one of the houses was a large owl, glaring at the car with glowing yellow eyes. She shook her head, trying to clear it; sleep had clearly not completely left her body.

"Something wrong?" her mother asked.

"No." Somehow, she thought her mother knew she was lying.

"You know, you _can_ tell me what's wrong," she said in an assuring tone.

"I told you, nothing's wrong," Sara said flatly. Her mother then dropped all pretense.

"I know you're lying. Something's wrong, you're having nightmares, getting in trouble at school…"

"_Everyone_ get's in trouble at school. I don't know anyone who doesn't," she objected.

"You got in a fight with three other girls, one that _you_ started," her mother accused. Sara started muttering under her breath.

_"You wonder why I don't hang around with you."_

"What was that?" her mother shot out angrily. Sara decided her best chance was to not answer. When it came to short things there was the micrometer, the nanometer, then…there was her mother's fuse. "Sara…" her mother warned. She continued ignoring her mother. "Sara Maria Cooper, do not ignore me!" she ordered. She still ignored her mother, her arms folded, glaring out the window. Her mother sighed and dropped the subject. Sara decided to glance at her mother again.

"So, what did you want to do together?" she asked gruffly. Her mother sighed again.

"I just wanted to get some time alone with you. I hardly ever get to spend time with you. You're almost ten years old and I still feel like I hardly know you." Sara unfolded her arms; she started feeling guilty about ignoring her mother.

"Sorry, you're just so involved in Interpol that… you just seem so tight and cold sometimes." Her mother put her hand out and clasped it around Sara's.

"I know; I had the exact same problem with my dad. I guess years of crime fighting make you a little cold…" Sara's mother was interrupted by a voice coming through the radio. It had a thick Russian accent.

"Hello, hello, calling Inspector Cooper," it barked. Sara's mother cursed under her breath and pulled out the radio.

"What is it, Igor?" she growled.

"Da, there is criminal on the run. I try take him down, it no work, he too tough. You best in business, we need help."

"Alright, these criminals always choose the worst times," she muttered darkly.

The car pulled up to an area covered in police tape, literally covered. Sara's mother got out then turned to her.

"Sara, stay in the car," she ordered.

"Okay." Sara's mother went up to a wolf right up next to the barrier.

"What's the situation?" she asked the wolf.

"It Jean Bison, he escape prison on day warden guy's watch. He not escape when I'm on watch," he said proudly.

"Someone fire the day warden," Carmelita ordered. At that time, the large Bison leapt out of one of the lumber mill windows, several planks of wood under his arms. All the police in the vicinity pointed their guns at Jean Bison.

"Put your hands up, criminal." The large animal shrugged, then tossed all the planks of wood at the police.

"Heads up!" she shouted. The police dodged the planks of wood flying towards them. One of the planks flew further than intended and hit one of the windows of the car Sara was in. Sara leapt up in fright and ran out of the car. One of Bison's goat troopers got on top of a building and fired an RPG at the car. The car exploded in a heap of twisted metal and broken glass, just seconds after Sara managed to get out.

"Sara!" she screamed, frightened that Sara had not escaped in time.

"Mom, I'm alright!" Sara called. She emerged from the cloud of dust and smoke. Her mother sighed in relief then turned her Shock Pistol to the goat and shot it off the rooftop. Jean Bison leapt off the roof and charged the police, causing them to break formation in fright. He charged towards Sara, his arms outstretched to grab her. Sara backed away from the charging bison then broke into a full run. He was right on her heels when something got in-between her and Jean Bison.

"Ray!" she shouted in shock as she recognized the large hippo. The large bison was grabbed by the large-yet-not-as-large hippopotamus and heaved into the air. She had recognized it as her bus driver but there was something different about him; he had a pair of boxing gloves, a wrestling mask, and racing goggles on along with his usual blue shirt.

: "No, I'm only Ray when I'm your bus driver, right now I'm not your bus driver. So I am not Ray, you can call me…" He flipped Bison over his back and slammed him to the ground, held down with one arge foot. "…'The Murray'," he finished impressively. Bison growled and threw "The Murray" off of him. He grabbed Sara and ran into an alley, Sara's mother and "The Murray" on his tail. Bison thought he was in the clear but a boxing glove on a spring hitting him on the face gave him a different idea.

"Mr. Green!" The cripple turtle rolled forward. Like with Ray or "The Murray", he was recognizable but different at the same time. He still had his dress shirt and vest on but he had put on light blue bicycle protective padding and a bicycle racing helmet.

"Grab onto the wheelchair," he ordered. Sara didn't argue and grabbed the wheelchair. Mr. Green ignited the rocket boosters that took him and Sara up to the rooftops. Sara pushed Mr. Green along the rooftops away from the pursuing Bison. Bison was right on their tails, about to catch Sara around the waist when a form got in-between them and hit Bison over the head. Sara's eyes widened when she saw who it was.

"Dad!" Sara's father had a cane which he was using to beat Bison back. He too looked different; instead of the usual Interpol police uniform he had on torn tan pants, a blue sweater, gloves, boots, and a peasant cap.

"Bentley, get Sara out of here!" Mr. Green or Bentley as her father called him ushered Sara away from Bison behind a chimney. She glanced around the chimney, looking at the fight with wide eyes. Her father was doing things she had never seen him do, doing flips and dodging faster than could possibly be real. He gave Bison one final hit on the head with the cane, knocking the large animal off the roof into the street below. Sara's father climbed down into the alley Bison had fallen into and looked at him to see that something had suffocated the large animal. Murray, Sara, and Bentley all floated down on the latter's wheelchair, then walked/wheeled over to the body of Bison. Bentley looked at Bison's body and noticed a belt with several gas canisters, all of which were open.

"Well, it seemed that Bison had a mission. And it was complete that mission…or die."

In a dark prison, in the deepest parts, a form was standing in front of the toilet in their cell.

"Jean Bison failed to kill the girl," it said in a Cajun accent. A dark form was looking up from the unsanitary water.: "Then we must resort to other plans. I will have these spirits help us escape along with our friends, Muggshot and Sir Raleigh," it said in a flat, cold voice.

"What of the Panda King?" the other form asked.

"We will need a different form of persuasion to get him back on our side."

"When will we escape, my master?" the form asked.

"Right now." A large explosion of darkness ran through the prison, destroying the doors to the cells containing Muggshot, Sir Raleigh, and Mz. Ruby.


	4. Comeback of the Cooper Gang

**Chapter 3:**

**Comeback of the Cooper Gang**

Sara yet again had her face pressed against a car window; the only difference was the fact that it was her father driving the vehicle. She had no idea where her father was taking her as her eyes had been blindfolded; it was supposed to be a wonderful surprise. The car stopped and Sara heard the sounds of her father getting out of the car and opening the door on her side of the car. He led her out of the car and up some steps, opening a door to allow her entrance to the building. Her father undid the blindfold, giving her the sight of a shabby old shack in the outskirts of Paris. Two other figures were seated in the living room, one on a sofa and the other in his wheelchair. Sara easily recognized them despite the many differences in their appearance from when she usually saw them.

"Hey it's Bentley and 'The Murray'." She fingered quotations around Murray's nickname.

"Just call me Murray," the hippo shrugged. Sara's father put one of his hands on her shoulder.

"So, you've probably already figured out that this isn't just a father-daughter weekend. Well, you're right; this is a time when we want to ask you if you want to join the Cooper Gang." Sara's eyes became huge and round. She had heard her father talk about the Cooper Gang and (though she had always thought it was made up) had always had some desire to be a part of something like it.

"You mean, go with you guys and do stuff?" she said excitedly.

"Yeah, you do know what kind of stuff we do, right?" he asked, clearly not as anxious as her father to see her living out the Cooper Legacy.

"You pull heists on crime bosses, it's the Cooper Legacy," she said simply.

"Yes, and it's very dangerous. Sly, I'm still not convinced this is a good idea, if Carmelita finds out she'll kill us all," he said, shuddering.

"She won't find out, Sara will be fine and she won't tell her mother anything, right Sara?" he asked her.

"You bet Dad." He smiled down at her.

"That's my girl." Bentley sighed, knowing that there was no arguing with Sly, let alone two Coopers.

"Alright, but don't blame me if…" At that moment, Sara's father's cell phone rang. Sighing, he went into another room and clicked the button.

"Yeah?" he asked dully. However he brightened up considerably when he recognized the voice of his beloved wife.

"Sly, I'm so glad you took Sara away today," she said in an anxious and worried voice.

"Why?" he asked nervously.

"These criminals called Sir Raleigh, Muggshot, and Mz. Ruby escaped from prison. They think Mz. Ruby pulled some voodoo trick that destroyed their doors. They've only been out for a few hours and they've already done so much damage. They captured the Panda King and hypnotized him into rejoining their group and they've started taking over mines and forges across the world. I'm sure that wherever you are, Sara will always be safe with you. It's believed that those three are responsible for the attempt on Sara's life yesterday. Whatever they hope to do, it can't be good for us."

"Don't worry, Sara will be safe with me," he assured, frightened by how anxious his wife sounded.

"Just stay safe."

"Don't I always?" he asked, trying to cheer her up with his usual attitude.

"No." Sly laughed, it was amazing all the things he could laugh off.

"Nothing will happen to her, I promise," he assured again.

"Okay, just don't take any chances and don't do anything stupid." She hung up on that note. Sly went back into the other room. He saw that Sara, Murray, and Bentley hadn't moved.

"Who was that, Dad?" she asked.

"Your mother."

"Oh, did she change her mind about letting me come with you?" she asked nervously.

"No, she's perfectly fine with it." He then turned to his comrades. "And we also have a mission now."

"Hopefully something easier than usual. You know, 'new recruit'," he said, pointing at Sara.

"We'll start off easy, sure. We'll go to China to save the Panda King."

"Why?" he asked.

"It seems a group, we'll call them the Fiendish Three, have tried to get him back on their side." Unhelpfully, it seemed that Bentley was able to guess what was going on and panicked because of it.

"Oh my god! Sir Raleigh, Muggshot, and Mz. Ruby have escaped?" he asked in panic.

"Yeah," Sly said coolly.

"What are we going to do if those three come after Sara? Have you ever thought of that Sly?" he accused.

"She'll be safe with us. If I'm not around she'll have you guys." He turned to Sara. "One of us will always be with you to help you and protect you" Sara couldn't help but feel annoyed, her father was treating her like a little girl again.

"I don't need to be looked after all the time!" she growled, arms folded tightly.

"Sara, there are three people that are out to kill our entire family. They will kill you if they get the chance. I know this is hard for you to understand but you need to know that your life and all of our lives are in danger." He cupped her cheek in his hand and turned her face towards his own.

"Why do they hate us? Why do they want to kill us?" she asked.

"Your mother and I were the ones responsible for putting them in jail. I destroyed their operations; your mother picked them up and carted them off to jail. They've had fifteen years of bitterness to think it over and now they all want to kill us."

"But could they really have that much hate themselves?" Bentley asked. "I think that maybe there might be a bigger power controlling them."

"Bentley, I know what you're thinking but it's impossible," her father said, obviously fighting off the inevitable.

"You remember our adventure in the Haitian jungle? It was swarming with ghosts, which are _dead_. Mz. Ruby could summon them and communicate with them so why can't she do so with him?" he asked pointedly.

"Who?" Sara's father stared her in the face.

"You remember that dream you had two nights ago?" Sara shuddered.

"Yeah?" she answered, nervous about what her father would tell her.

"The mechanical bird from it. He actually exists. His name is Clockwerk; he lived for thousands of years, kept himself alive by replacing all of his organic body parts with mechanics. He's hated the Cooper line almost as long as recorded history." He pulled out a book from his pack. "I was hoping to give this to you on your tenth birthday in secret. This is called the _Thievius Raccoonus _a book created by the Cooper family over the years; all the stories and tricks of the Coopers and their history, our family's history. It's been passed down the Cooper line for centuries and I guess it's time I handed it to you." He held out the book and placed it in Sara's hand. "You may find the answers you need." Sara took the patched up book and smiled up at him.

"Thanks."

"You'll have plenty of time to read it during the long trip. Right now you need to help me and the guys get packed." Turns out there wasn't much for Sara to do. Foodstuffs were already made, thanks to Murray; all technology was under Bentley's charge; and her father packed just about everything else that was needed. All Sara had to do was take herself, the book, and some extra clothes for herself. Everything was packed in an ancient looking, navy blue van; it had the Cooper insignia and all sorts of radio dishes and other things for communications and recon.

"This is my baby, the team van," he answered when Sara gave him a weird look for hugging the vehicle. Murray took the wheel, Sara's father rode shotgun, and Sara herself was left with Bentley in the back. The back seats had been taken out to allow room for the different technology and Bentley's wheelchair. However, Murray saw fit to put a cushion in the back corner for Sara to sit on. Once she was situated and the van was on the open road, Sara opened the _Thievius Raccoonus_ to a random page and started reading.

_Author's Note: Peese Review._


	5. Secrets of the Thievius Raccoonus

_Author's Note: The Ratchet and Clank fandom owns you guys review wise, I haven't gotten a single one since the first couple of chapters. Don't make me go Review Nazi on you. Geek out._

**Chapter 4:**

**Secrets of the Thievius Raccoonus**

Sara flipped through page after page written by her old west outlaw ancestor Tennessee Kid Cooper, learning about his famous rail slide and all the booty he had snuck straight from under the lawman Wild Bull Hickok's nose. Tennessee's entries ended with his marriage to a rich land owner's daughter where he settled to a quiet life of raising cattle until a mysterious shape came one night and killed him while he slept. She turned further back in the book until she found something that interested her, her ancestor from biblical times. It was the section on the old master thief, Ben Coop-Hur. He got his loot from stealing from corrupt Roman generals and officials in his homeland of Judea. However, he didn't earn all of his glory from stealing; he was notorious as a chariot racer representing Judea in the Circus Maximus tournaments. He also started the Cooper line enemy log in the _Thievius Raccoonus_. Sara excitedly turned to the page with the Cooper enemy log and looked around. She was surprised to find a page about her mother's family; apparently they had been chasing the Coopers for four generations. Her parents chased each other, her grandfathers chased each other, her great grandfathers chased each other and her great-great grandfathers chased each other. She turned the page again and found a bio on a person called Constable Neyla, someone who had apparently worked for her mother. In the bottom right hand corner of the page was something about her death, something called the Clock-La incident.

_It had then become evident that the Clockwerk eyes had hypnotized Neyla. In an attempt to destroy me, Bentley, and Murray; she fused herself with Clockwerk's body. I managed to destroy Clock-La with Carmelita's help but at a great price. Bentley had been paralyzed from the waist down when Clock-La's beak came down on him, and Murray, blaming himself, left in shame. I had no idea whether this was the end of the Cooper Gang or not, but I certainly wasn't going to give up. It's keep going, or give up and let myself be captured by the lovely Inspector Fox._

_Sly C._

Clockwerk, that was the name her father mentioned, Sara turned the page again and found a frighteningly reminiscent picture. It was a diagram, created by Ben Coop-Hur that depicted a giant mechanical owl, the heading read: Clockwerk, the Cooper's Bane.

_The hideous creature you see depicted below is the ancient menace, Clockwerk. He hates all Coopers, for reason unknown to me and perhaps anyone. It is widely believed that he is simply jealous of us and wants to have us exterminated so that he can be the top thief in the world. He is made of an unknown and nearly indestructible metal. Not even the fires of a great volcano could destroy this menace. It is the sad fate of all retired Coopers to eventually find themselves thrown to his non-existent mercy. So if you are reading this and you are a Cooper, be acknowledged that Clockwerk is hunting for you at this very moment._

Sara shut the book quickly; she didn't want to read any more. Bentley turned his head to her and tilted it questioningly.

"I was reading when it started describing something I didn't want to read about." Bentley glared at Sara's father.

"How much do you talk about your relationship with Carmelita in that book?" he asked in an annoyed tone.

"Not at all," Sara's father said innocently.

"I wasn't reading dad's entry anyway. I was reading a section written by Ben Coop-Hur; the section about Clockwerk." Bentley glared at Sara's father again.

"Great, if she didn't have nightmares before, now she definitely will."

"Don't worry, I'm okay. I'm just reading a book," Sara insisted.

"Well, read something else in it," Bentley ordered.

"No thanks. I think I'll just try and get some sleep." She shut her eyes and pretended to sleep. Bentley turned back to her father and she could hear them talking about the plan. After a while, her pretend sleep gave way to the actual thing.

_When she opened her eyes, she was on a rooftop back in Paris. She looked down and noticed that she was much older, possibly by ten years. She looked up, looking at another full moon. Her breath became more rapidly, she knew what was going to happen. Then, as she knew would happen, a bird like form appeared over the moon and swished down to her. She dodged the swooping attack but instead fell down into an alley painfully. Clockwerk didn't go after her for the alley was way to small for him but four other forms fell in instead. They all lined up, forcing her out of the alley. It was a frog in a beat up top hat, a muscular bulldog with guns, a crocodilian priestess, and a large panda in red pants. The bulldog pushed her out of the alleyway and straight into the talons of Clockwerk. He lifted her into the atmosphere, away from his cohorts and into the clouds. She screamed in terror, hoping that Bentley or her father would wake her up. They were flying over a large archipelago straight to a strange mountain in a large jungle. Clockwerk hovered above the mouth of the "volcano". The reason for her not describing it as a real volcano was that instead of boiling lava it had an ugly green liquid in it. _

_ "Find this girl for me in the real world. If you do then she will be your great feast. Here's a little taste to set your appetites." He dropped Sara into the volcano. Misty shapes started to clamber out of the liquid, arms outstretched to take her…_

Sara jolted upright with a small scream. She looked up; she was no longer in the van but a small hotel room. Only Bentley was there with her, taking a nap in his wheelchair. She clamped her arms around her legs and pressed her back against the wall, staring with wide eyes at the remembered images of everything that had happened in her nightmares. First Clockwerk had savaged her then he and his cohorts had given her to a bunch of spirits. Her eyes filled with tears until they could no longer hold them. Bentley looked up after awaking and saw Sara sobbing into her knees.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I had another nightmare," she whimpered.

"What was this one about? Was it another Clockwerk nightmare?" he asked.

"Yeah," she sniffled.

"You know, you should really talk to your father about this. If my theory is right anyway," he mumbled.

"What?" Sara asked eagerly. Bentley seemed reluctant to tell his theory. "Tell me," she whined at him.

"Well, it might scare you…" he said reluctantly.

"I won't be scared, I promise," she said, hands pressed in front of her mouth with a pleading smile. Bentley sighed.

"Alright. My theory is that a member of a group called the Fiendish Three is able to release spirits, I believe she released Clockwerk's spirit so that he could torture you."

"What's the point?" she asked.

"It could possibly have the effect of distancing your family. Like what you described during the trip before you fell asleep, that fight with your mother."

"So, he wants to destroy my family?" Sara gasped.

"Sadly, yes. But maybe this adventure will give us more answers, perhaps even enough to stop whatever he's trying to do."


	6. Out of the Frying Pan

**Chapter 5:**

**Out of the Frying Pan**

The Cooper Van wheeled around an extremely tight corner at an excessive speed. It finally wound its way to the top of the mountain and screeched to a halt. Sly and Bentley both calmly walked/wheeled out of the van whilst Sara clung onto Murray as he squeezed out, every single blue hair on her head standing up. Murray tried desperately to get Sara's arms off from around his neck. Sly went over and pulled Sara off of him, putting her down on the snow powdered ground. They all looked over at the fortress on the adjacent peak; it was spurting out fireworks in an almost endless stream. The stream stopped and the arc of fireworks destroyed an entire mountain side. Several of Panda King's minions started collecting the debris from the rockslide.

"Strange, it's almost like they're mining these mountains," Bentley observed.

"For what?" He focused his Binocucom on the hillside and saw two rhinoceroses heaving a giant slab of golden-brown metal. "They're after metal in the mountains," he said in surprise.

"Strange, what would they need metal for?" Bentley asked.

"Dunno, perhaps with a little more snooping around we can find out." Sly led the way for the rest of the Cooper Gang and Sara to the valley in-between the mountains; little known to anyone in the group, a dark hand reached out for Sara's left leg, barely missing it as she walked away. The hand smacked its fist on the ground and tapped its fingers along the icy ground.

Sly and Company made their way up to the Panda King's fortress, easily slipping in without detection. They were in a giant flat space, and in the middle of the flat space was a large baboon. He stood up and faced Sly, a long bow staff in hand.

"Before you can go further up, you must face me," he challenged.

"I feel like I've been tossed into a Bruce Lizard* movie," he muttered to no one in particular. Sly stood up straight, holding his cane in a similar fashion to how the baboon held his staff.

"Piece of cake." The baboon charged Sly, yelling a battle cry. Sly simply leapt over the baboon and brought his staff down upon his head. His adversary flipped back up from the ground and swung his staff at Sly, which the master thief was able to dodge with no trouble. He caught the staff in his cane's hook and tore it out of the baboon's hand. Seeing Sly holding not only his own cane but the baboon's staff, the baboon surrendered.

"You have fought with honor. You may pass to the next level."

Sly and the gang went up to the next level of the fortress. On the next level of the fortress was a tiger in regal attire who bellowed in anger when he saw a certain pink hippo climb the ladder.

"You, you are the one who dishonored me in India and got me thrown in jail!" he shouted.

"Uhh, who are you?" Murray asked.

"You idiot! It is me, Rajan the King of the hills!" Rajan yelled.

"Oh yeah, that power freak," Murray said reminiscently.

"I'm right here! And without that electric fence, there is no way you can beat me weakling!" Murray's eyes flared.

"THE MURRAY IS. NOT. WEAK!" He clapped his hands above his head, activating his Fists o' Flame. He punched Rajan in the gut propelling him backwards into the wall.

"Hey Rajan, you got something on your chest," Sly joked. Rajan looked down to see that some of the flame from Murray's Fists o' Flame had ignited his fur. He ran around in circles, trying to put out the fire. On one loop, he went too far in a certain direction and ended up plummeting over the side of the fortress.

"That was…easy," Bentley said in surprise.

"Too easy," Sly agreed.

"The powers of 'The Murray' were too much for the little tiger," Murray said boastingly and flexed his muscles. Sara rolled her eyes behind everyone's backs, sometimes Murray could be an idiot.

The Cooper gang wound their way up the next set of stairs until they reached the third level. In the middle of the floor was General Tsao.

"I thought you got thrown into jail by Carmelita," he said.

"Ha, no walls can hold the greatness o the family Tsao!" the chicken boasted.

"Yeah right, you make all those claims that women are inferior to you yet one threw you in jail." General Tsao growled then unleashed his undead minion attack at the Cooper Gang. They all jumped out of the way, allowing it to fall out the window. Sly leapt down from the balcony he had stationed himself at, attacking General Tsao with his cane. The General wove around in confusion after Sly gave him a concussion. Murray picked him up and tossed him out the window. They looked around for the stairs that would lead to the fourth floor where the Panda King was, but there were none. Sly looked up and saw a trap door leading to the fourth door. He pushed the trap door up with his cane and a small ladder came down about halfway before getting stuck.

"Bentley, Murray, stay with Sara," Sly ordered. He hooked his cane on the bottom rung of the ladder and pulled himself up to the fourth floor.

The "fourth floor" was simply the roof of the building, a flat roof but a roof none the less. The Panda King was standing in the middle of the roof with a huge pile of fireworks which he was setting off at the surrounding mountains. He turned around and saw Sly standing there with his cane.

"Sly Cooper, we meet again for the…third time," he said after counting on his fingers.

"Been a while hasn't it?" Sly grinned.

"Too long. However it seems to be that we meet under very grave circumstances. You see, I have to kill you."

"Ain't that a bummer?" Sly grinned.

"Feel no anger towards me, for it is under the control of Mz. Ruby that I attack you," the Panda King said gravely.

Meanwhile, in Mz. Ruby's secret headquarters, Mz. Ruby is holding a Panda King voodoo doll, staring at a screen that had Sly and Panda King on it. She tried making Panda King throw a fire ball at Sly but with no success.

"How do you play as Panda King again? It's been a while since I played Sly 3," she said, looking at the voodoo doll in confusion.

Panda King suddenly unleashed a fire ball that flopped pathetically to the ground in front of his feet. He kicked it and his foot caught aflame. Sly took advantage of the Panda King (Mz. Ruby)'s distraction and kicked him in the head. The Panda King grabbed his head and reeled around, Mz. Ruby was losing control.

Mz. Ruby dropped her Panda King voodoo doll; it started disintegrating as its power diminished.

"What? No!" she screamed.

The Panda King dropped to the ground. He got up and clapped Sly on the back, a little too hard as Sly fell on his face.

"Thank you for releasing me from Mz. Ruby's control. I owe you many debts for all your actions," he said, bowing.

"Well we can work out how you can repay me on the road. Come on, my daughter and the gang are waiting below."

"I am sorry but I have my own daughter to attend to," Panda King said gravely. He launched a large firework, grabbing hold of it so it would take him away to a random place in the mountains.

"Sweet ride," he said in admiration.

Sly clambered down the ladder back to the third floor of the fortress. He looked over at his gang, surprised to see only Bentley and Murray cowering in the corner.

"Guys, what happened? Where's Sara?" he asked. Murray was shaking harder than Sly had ever seen before, even more than when the Contessa had got him hyped up on Rajan's spices. "Where is she? Where's my daughter?" he asked again.

"G-g-ghosts. They kidnapped her and took her somewhere," Bentley stuttered.

"_Where_?" Sly shouted, grabbing Bentley's shoulders. Bentley flinched at his friend's loud voice. He had never had Sly yell at him before.

"I don't know! She could be anywhere in the world! They could have taken her to Clockwerk himself!" he shouted in near tears.

"Well, do we have any leads?" At that moment, a small rocket landed in the ground next to Sly's feet, it had a small note on it. Sly took the note off and read it; it was from the Panda King.

_Sly Cooper,_

_I know that the ghosts who took your daughter were sent by Mz. Ruby. I do not know where Mz. Ruby is but perhaps Sir Raleigh does. He is in the Scottish moors, operating a factory to make computer chips. I do not doubt that everything is not as it seems, you should go to him and maybe he can give you the information of where your daughter is._

_, Panda King_

_P.S. Jing King says hi._

"Well, what would Mz. Ruby want with little Sara?" Murray asked in confusion.

"I don't know, but whatever it is, it can't be good," Bentley answered.

*Just so you know Bruce Lizard (Lee-Zard) is a Sly Cooper world copy of Bruce Lee.

_Author's Note: I didn't want to do this but if no review then NO CHAPTER FOR YOU!_


	7. Interpol Enters the Scene

_Author's Note: Hooray, I finally got reviewed. Choochooshoe, where were you the entire time I was on Fanfiction? Please follow her example and review this story, like the Ratchet and Clank people reviewed my other story, if you like R+C check it out. Geek out. _

**Chapter 6:**

**Interpol Enters the Scene**

Carmelita put the handcuffs on another wanna-be thief, another day in the life of the Interpol Inspector. She read him his rights, but anyone on the scene could tell that her heart wasn't in it. In truth, she was worried about her daughter. People wanted her dead, and no one knew who. It was before the Fiendish Three escaped from prison so it couldn't be them, but they would probably be more than ready to join the effort. An officer took over for Carmelita and drove the criminal to the prison. She walked along the sidewalk to the prison; she needed the time to think. However, her time to think was rudely interrupted by her radio going off. She sighed and pulled it out.

"What?" she asked dully.

"Inspector, you've got to get over here! It involves your daughter!" the officer on the other side shouted urgently. Without even giving a response, she hung up started sprinting to the police station.

Carmelita nearly dislodged the door from its hinges as she burst into the police station. She stormed up to the chief's office, nearly busting his door down. The chief looked up from his papers and wrinkled his nose in annoyance.

"Sorry. It's just…it's supposed to be about Sara?" she asked nervously.

"Yes, that's what the note attached to this disk says anyway." He took out a disk and put it in the player, projecting it on one of the walls of the office. On the screen was a large crocodile dressed as a priestess.

"Hello Interpol chief and, hopefully, Inspector Cooper. Oh you're probably wondering how I know that Constable Cooper isn't there, well it's simply the fact that my voodoo children ran into his gang in China. But back to business, I want you to know that we got somethin' that's yours and if you meet my demands, you can have it back." While the Chief had his eyes fixed on the crocodile, Carmelita stared at the end of a bushy gray tail to the side of Mz. Ruby's legs. "Now, you're probably wondering what I got that you want, that's where the Inspector comes in. You see, I have…" She stepped aside to reveal a small, ash grey fox form, "…her daughter." Sara was tightly bound to a chair in the middle of the room, thankfully unconscious. Carmelita didn't think she could stand to see Sara struggling against those cords. Mz. Ruby stood beside her prisoner, rubbing one of the fox ears sticking out of Sara's long hair.

"Now my demands, you need to provide me and my allies with all the supplies we need. Do this, and I'll release the little darling. We'll talk soon I hope." The video ended, leaving the Chief to now deal with the enraged Carmelita.

"That…witch…has kidnapped my daughter! She's going to _pay_ for that!" she screamed, her intensified rage filling the room with its awesome energy.

"Inspector, please calm down," the chief begged, frightened that the emissions of pure rage coming from Carmelita would singe his fur.

"Calm down? You want me to _calm down_? My daughter has been kidnapped by a criminal network for ransom. How would you like it if they took _your_ daughter?" she demanded.

"Now, Carmelita. That's hardly fair…"

"It's perfectly fair!" she snapped, cutting the chief off. "We need to find her and rescue my daughter." The chief put a hand on her shoulder.

"Now, I can understand you're upset but you're acting rather rashly," he said calmly. Carmelita threw his hand off.

"Well I'll just be off then. All I need is one of our helicopters and perhaps another cop or two." The chief sighed in defeat.

"Alright, I'll give you what you need to find them. It's about time you got a harder project. Ever since Cooper got amnesia and joined us, you've been cooped up dealing with regular criminals. That's probably adding to your anxiety about your daughter and making you extra tense." Carmelita, who didn't seem to have listened to the last bit, squeezed him tightly in a thankful hug.

"Thank you so much. We'll both benefit in the end. I get my daughter back, you get three dangerous criminals," she promised. Carmelita dashed out of the office and went to the hangar of the police station.

In the hangar, Carmelita stood by a helicopter. She was waiting for a pilot to arrive, but all of them were doing other missions. Sure she had a pilot's license but _of course_ she wasn't licensed to drive one of Interpol's new and improved helicopters. She had just about lost all patience and yelled in exasperation.

"Is there anyone here who can fly a helicopter?" A loud, heavily accented voice shouted back.

"I can do that!" A white furred figure started running down the stairs, still shouting his ability to pilot a helicopter. Carmelita recognized the white figure.

"Warden Wolfski. You have pilot training?" she asked, an eyebrow raised questioningly.

"Da, my parents wanted me to join the Russian military but I didn't get in," he panted.

"Why?" she asked. Wolfski's face turned sour.

"Apparently I wasn't as 'disciplined' as I needed to be. So I join Interpol to get disciplined." Silently, Carmelita thought: _"Good luck with that"_ but verbally she said:

"But what's important is that you can pilot a helicopter."

"Da, you know the man who invented helicopter is named Igor as well," he said proudly. Carmelita rolled her eyes, no matter how much she needed him Igor Wolfski was still an idiot.

"Just start the helicopter, Wolfski," she growled.

"Yes Inspector." He saluted her and started up the helicopter. Carmelita jumped into the co-pilot seat.

"Alright, let's go get my daughter back."

_Author's Note: Review or else I'll tell Carmelita that __**you**__ in fact kidnapped Sara. Yeah, how do you like __**them**__ apples? _


	8. One Step Closer

**Chapter 7:**

**One Step Closer**

_Raleigh's Factory in the Scottish moors_

The Cooper Van wheeled around the corner of a road and screeched past a farm. It flew over a chasm and stopped outside a large factory. Sly, Murray, and Bentley all hopped out and stared at the forbidding building shrouded in mist.

"There it is, Sir Raleigh's microchip factory," he said in awe of the massive building.

"Microchips? Ohh, you mean the ones that come in those little snack packs right?" he asked with a smile. Bentley sighed in exasperation.

"Not _those_ kinds of chips Murray. Microchips are miniature motherboards; they put them in laptops, and cellphones, and stuff like that." Murray's mouth formed a perfect O in realization.

"How do we get in?" he asked, desperate to get over his mistake.

"The way we always do: _not_ through the front door." Bentley sighed in exasperation, though this time at Sly.

"Well Sly, looks like its basic protocol." Sly nodded and leapt the fence, running forward to the wall. He used the vines on the wall to scale the building until he reached a window. Slipping in, he found a fence blocking his way from entering the factory. He pulled out his Binocucom and snapped a few photos; Raleigh ("There he is, the man himself"), the Semiconductor processing equipment ("Why would Raleigh be interested in making microchips?"), everything useful he could think of.

Bentley put together a plan using Sly's information, it would help them disable the machines and get to Raleigh's dirigible. Murray clambered over the low wall on the top of the factory and thunder flopped the skylight so that he fell right next to a processor. He flexed his muscles in preparation.

"Yet another machine destined to fall to 'The Murray'," he said impressively. Murray gave the processor a one-two punch and ran away before it blew up. He did this with all the processors in the factory until the factory floor was just a bunch of scrap metal, dodging the guards along the way. Murray flexed his muscles again and called into the others.

"Alright guys, the factory floor is cleared of all machines."

"Good work, now its Sly's turn. Sly, you go up the tower, jump and grab the dirigible's rope." Sly leapt out the tower window and grabbed the rope dangling off of the dirigible. He scrambled up the rope to the dirigible and leapt through an open window into the dirigible. Sir Raleigh glared at Sly from on top of his raised platform.

"I suppose that you want to know where your daughter is, eh Cooper?" he asked haughtily.

"You got that right," Sly snarled.

"Well, I'll never tell you where she is; and there's no way you'll ever make me." With that, he pushed a button and the raised platform transformed into a cybernetic frog. Its eyes scanned the room until it came upon Sly, then opened its mouth and snapped its electrified tongue at him. Sly dodged the attack and all the other attempts that came with it. After just barely dodging one strike, he noticed a plug-in. A memory popped into Sly's head of Carmelita lecturing a three year old Sara not to go near any of the plug-ins, and with that memory came an idea. He made sure to be right in front of the plug-in, and as Sir Raleigh struck, he leapt out of the way so that the electrical tongue came into contact with the power supply. Energy came up through the plug-in and overflowed the robo-frog's systems until it blew up and Sir Raleigh was sent skidding to be right next to Sly.

"I'll never tell you where she is Cooper, never!" he swore between coughs. Sly glared down at the frog, grabbed his leg and shoved him out the window.

"Change your mind?" Sly asked darkly. Sir Raleigh started yelling in fright.

"I'll talk! I'll talk! I don't know where she is, but Muggshot does! He's in New York City!" he yelled. Sly pulled Sir Raleigh back into the dirigible, then threw him into a conveniently placed foot locker. He pulled out a note and addressed it to Interpol HQ in Paris. As the Cooper Van drove by the mailbox outside Raleigh's now decommissioned factory, Sly threw the foot locker with Raleigh in it into the mailbox.

_Panda King's Fortress in the Chinese Himalayas_

The Panda King looked up from his plans as the artificial wind from helicopter blades started blowing them away. A red-orange female fox with long blue hair leapt out of the helicopter and pointed her Shock Pistol at him. He bowed politely as he recognized the fiery policewoman.

"Inspector Cooper," he greeted politely.

"Hello, Panda King," she growled. He may not have kidnapped Sara, but he was a criminal none the less. However, she had to deal with Sara first.

"My followers have run amok in these mountains, destroying them in search of the metals they contain," Panda King said gravely before Carmelita could speak. This disarmed her.

"Metal for what?" she asked.

"I do not know, as I was always on the outside of the Fiendish Three's plan making, nobody ever told me what their intentions are. All I could get out was that they want revenge on Sly Cooper, and you as well Inspector."

"Well, we need to know where this metal is going as that's most likely where they'll be holding my daughter." The Panda King nodded again.

"I will help you, for I owe Sly Cooper a debt of gratitude for him helping me save my own daughter, and of course you helped as well. If your friend in the helicopter could destroy the mining rigs, we could find out where the metal is going." Carmelita nodded and turned to Igor in the helicopter.

"You heard him, Wolfski." The helicopter blades turned faster and faster, raising the vehicle off the ground. It flew around the area, destroying each and every one of the mining rigs and blasting off all of the guards. He landed down by the remains of the last rig he destroyed and got out. A safe had been busted open by the Shock Missile's impact, revealing the shipping lists of the past few days the mining facility had been operating. Wolfski took out the slips of paper and read them aloud to the communicator.

"It says here that the metal has been shipped to a foundry in New York City. Alright, I always wanted to visit America, always!" he shouted happily into the radio.

"Good, come pick me up and you can fly us there," she sighed exasperatedly.

_Author's Note: Review now and maybe I'll be motivated to post a quick chapter tomorrow. Sadly, today is my last day of Summer Vacation and I start Sophomore year tomorrow. I'm taking an A.P. (Advanced Placement or College Level) course and though the homework isn't hard it takes a long time so I might not get to review every day. Please understand this, please review, Geek out. _


	9. Prisoner

_Author's Note: OMG! Where have all you wonderful people been hiding this whole time? Big shout-out to Running Nomad who both gave me one of the best reviews I've ever gotten (Seriously, the Clockwerk nightmare sequence gave __**you **__a nightmare?) and made me one of his/her favorite authors. Also a very nice review from Choochooshoe, by the way: no, the Wolfski family is completely of my creation. If you really want to know, Igor Wolfski is based off of the character Pavel Chekov from Star Trek: the Original Series ("Vere are the Nuclear Wessles?") Please follow these wonderful peoples' examples and review my story; Geek out._

**Chapter 8:**

**Prisoner**

Sara awoke in a dark room, tightly bound to a chair in the middle of it. She was confused; the last thing she remembered was standing in the middle of the third floor of the Panda King's fortress, waiting for her father to return. Then, she remembered a dark hand grabbing onto her ankle, followed by others grabbing her all over until one suffocated her until she passed out. Now she was here, in a dark room, tied to a chair.

The door on the far side of the room was opened by a dark figure like the ones that had kidnapped her. It approached her with a horrible grin on its face, reaching for her face. Sara squirmed in her bondages, trying to avoid the fingers outstretched for her cheek. A sharp voice commanded the shadow monster away from Sara. It was a large crocodilian priestess, exactly like the one from Sara's dream, shooing the demon away from her.

"Shame on you, my voodoo chile'. This girl is no prisoner," she swiped one clawed hand at Sara's bonds, cutting them "she's a guest." Sara rubbed her arms sorely where the cords had been cutting into them.

"Some invitation," she muttered.

"Well, I don't think ya darlin' parents would've let ya come here by yaself. So I sent my voodoo children to escort you here." She stared down at Sara's skinny form with a sour expression on her face. "Chile', when was the last time you was eatin' anything?" she asked.

"That depends, how long has it been since your voodoo children 'escorted' me here? I haven't eaten since that morning," Sara grumbled. The crocodile waved a disapproving finger in her face annoyingly.

"Now don't be so hard on them; my voodoo children are just a little…enthusiastic about havin' guests," she explained then quickly getting off the subject. "So ya haven't eaten since yestaday mornin'? Hoo, somebody get this girl some grub!" She grabbed Sara's small hand and pulled her along to a room where a huge pot was bubbling over a fire.

"Are you at least going to tell me who you are?" she asked, annoyed.

"Why of course, darlin'. I'm Mz. Ruby, now what's your name. I know who you are but not what you're called," she said sweetly.

"My name's Sara," she said reluctantly.

"What a pretty name," Mz. Ruby complemented.

"Thanks," she growled reluctantly.

"Now have some grub girl." She handed Sara a large bowl of the gumbo. Sara couldn't help but notice that a large boot was sticking out of the pot.

"Um, why is there a shoe in the soup?" she asked, a little frightened to eat the offered food now.

"Well I find that it gives it a real_ kick_!" She howled in laughter from her own joke. Sara shrank back slightly from the loud noise, drawing her attention to the extreme size of the bowl; what were they doing, fattening her up?

"I don't think I can eat quite this much," she said shyly.

"Chile', you a skinny girl. You look like ya parents are starving ya. Eat, keep ya strength up." Sara reluctantly took a bite of the thick soup, actually enjoying the strange taste of the potpourri soup. Her eyes started watering from the spice in the soup but she had to admit she felt a lot better after taking a bite. Despite her previous doubts, she was able to finish the bowl of soup in not too much time at all.

"Thanks." Mz. Ruby smiled appreciatively at the empty bowl.

"Now that's what I like to see in a girl: a nice healthy appetite; too many skinny ninnies runnin' around worryin' about their weight in this world. I got a feeling you going places in this world, but I can check if you like." Sara looked up from where she had been licking the bowl; something about the spice had her hooked.

"You can?" she asked.

"Sure, pull up a chair." Sara sat down on a stump across from the one Mz. Ruby was sitting on and allowed her hand to be pulled out and examined. "Ooh, you're gonna be quite a looker when you're older. Why, you're gonna look pretty much just like your mother. You're gonna have everything a girl like you would ever want; your own pick of the boys, good friends, you gonna be a happy girl. That is if I can do a few things."

"What kind of things?" she asked, eager to do the things Mz. Ruby said she could someday.

"Oh, a spell or two, a little training in the voodoo arts, and you gonna be everything I said before," she said offhandedly.

"Could you teach me?" Sara asked eagerly, leaning as far as she could towards Mz. Ruby, who actually seemed insulted.

"Could I? _Could _I? Course I can teach you. I could teach you anything and everything there is to know about voodoo. It wouldn't take too long either." She held out a piece of paper. "If you would sign this piece of paper, then I can train you in the voodoo ways." She held out a quill to Sara, which Sara took and poised above the paper.

"Uh, can I have some ink? It's kinda hard to write without it," she said pointedly.

"Oh, you won't need ink. Blood is the only guarantee the voodoo spirits will ever accept." She took the quill from Sara's hand and used it to slice open her palm. Sara screamed in pain and pulled her hand away from Mz. Ruby. "Now, some sacrifices must be made before anything good can come. Now sign and you can have endless happiness." Sara signed the piece of paper. Then writing appeared above her signature and a dark cloud descended above them.

"Mz. Ruby, what's going on?" she asked in a frightened voice. Several of the shadow ghosts appeared and threw nets over her body, tangling her in a mass of ropes.

"As I said, sacrifices must be made. And my sacrifice is your soul, the one you just sold to me." She held up the rolled up form and placed it in the pocket of her robe. "I sacrifice your soul, and get another back. This soul." Sara looked up to see one of the shadowed forms was that of the owl, Clockwerk, from her dreams.

"Soon, the Cooper line will end." Mz. Ruby indicated the shadow ghosts to drag Sara out of the hut to the temple on the far side of the island where she was to be sacrificed.

_Author's Note: There ya go, one big dramatic ending to chapter 8. Review please, it helps, Geek out._


	10. Trouble in NYC

**Chapter 9:**

**Trouble in NYC**

The Cooper Van screamed around a corner in New York City, turning in to a parking garage. The gang came back out of the garage and made their way to Central Park. Sly leaned against the rail separating a pond and island from the rest of the park.

"Where do we start?" he asked, looking despairingly at the sheer mass of buildings around.

"Muggshot owns a foundry somewhere around here Raleigh said," Bentley muttered, rubbing his chin in thought. Meanwhile, Murray seemed to be transfixed by what he saw on the island.

"Master!" he cried out. Sly and Bentley turned and saw the Guru meditating on the island. The Guru opened his eyes and nodded to Murray, saying something in his native language. "Alright! Sly, my master said that he knows the location of Muggshot's foundry! It's a few roads down, the big building," he said, holding his arms out for affect.

"Thank you sir!" Sly cried to the Guru gratefully. The Guru nodded and went back to meditating.

Meanwhile the Interpol helicopter carrying Igor and Carmelita landed on top of Interpol HQ New York. Both cops leapt out of the helicopter and made their way to the entrance to the building. Two high ranking police officers came up from the building and blocked their way.

"Identification please," the scruffy Alsatian on the right said. Carmelita pulled out her badge.

"Inspector Carmelita Montoya Fox-Cooper, Paris HQ." Wolfski followed her example.

"Warden Igor Wolfski, Criminal Rehabilitation Center, Prague." One of the officers snorted.

"The same warden whom the Fiendish Three escaped from?" he sneered. Igor's ears flattened against his skull.

"That was the day warden," he growled irritably. Carmelita stepped between them and coughed for attention.

"Could you two direct us to a foundry near Central Park?" she asked politely.

"There's one that was decommissioned for health reasons a few months ago. I can give you directions," the more mature and older looking squirrel offered.

"Good."

Meanwhile, Sly and the gang had already broken into the factory through one of the holes in the side of the building. They crawled along one of the catwalks suspended over a pot of the boiling metal from the Panda King's fortress.

"Well, now we know where the Panda King's metal was going," Bentley said with a weak attempt at a smile.

"Yeah, but what are they doing with it?" Sly asked. He used his Binocucom to look at the molds they were putting the metal into. One of the open ones was in the shape of a gigantic bird wing, the perfect size for… "Guys…they're making Clockwerk a new body!" he gasped.

"What? But how is he supposed to get into it? He's dead, Carmelita destroyed the Hate Chip," Murray flustered.

"How about my 'Clockwerk is a ghost' theory?" Bentley asked helpfully.

"Well then, he'll be locked in that bad place; the one the name of which we cannot say because the author is trying to keep this story decently rated." Bentley and Sly gave Murray an odd look for this breaking of the fourth wall then returned to their discussion.

"No, I still say he's a ghost. Mz. Ruby's duty must be something doing with Clockwerk's ghost coming back to this world," he said.

"Wait a minute! If the Fiendish Three's entire purpose is to bring back Clockwerk, then what do they need Sara for?" Sly asked, giving Bentley a hard glare. Bentley shrank back from this show of fierceness.

"Um…I don't think you ought to know," he said reluctantly.

"Bentley…" Sly growled.

"Hey look, a way to get up to Muggshot so we can find out where Sara is before what I think is going to happen, which you probably shouldn't know about, _can_ happen," Bentley said quickly. He wheeled his way to the ramp up to the higher levels of the foundry. Sly clambered up the pipes to the higher catwalk, knocking a passing guard into the liquid below. An alarm blared, warning the workers of contamination in the metal. Muggshot burst out of a door and walked on his hands to the edge of the pot.

"What? Some of the metal gots contaminiated?" he asked in outrage, guns out. "Clear out dis bunch and put some new stuffs in. Good thing PK gave us a sur-surple…more'n we needed." He went back through the door, not noticing that Sly had managed to cling to his large back muscles. Sly raised his cane to knock out Muggshot but before he could, Muggshot punched Sly off him. Muggshot laughed at Sly as the master thief got to his feet weakly.

"You'ze thought you could sneak up on me like dat? I learned afta da first time punk," he said gloatingly. He pulled out his huge machine guns and pointed them at Sly. "There ain't no mirrors to protect you now." Sly knew it as he stared down the barrels of Muggshot's humungous guns: he was about to die and they would never find Sara. It was just so cruel to Carmelita, Muggshot had already taken her father, now he planned to take her husband and (indirectly but still) her child. Suddenly, like so many times before, Sly's luck prevailed as Muggshot got a call over the PA.

"Boss, some Coppers have arrived at the building. Oh, and the Cooper Gang's here too," the dog's voice added as an afterthought. Muggshot turned his attention away from Sly to yell at the device, though the dog on the other end could not hear him.

"I know, I know! I'm about to kill Sly Cooper, so shut up and leave me in peace!" he shouted uselessly. Muggshot pointed his guns back to where Sly was to see that the raccoon had got behind him again and this time successfully hit him with his cane.

"You might be stronger than me, Muggshot. But I'm smarter," he said smugly. He pulled out his Interpol radio and called the two cops outside. "Hello fellow Interpol employees. I trust that my darling Carmelita is among you."

"Yeah, I'm here Ringtail," his vixen wife said in a tired voice.

"Well, just so you know I have caught Muggshot," he said proudly.

"Good, he should know where Sara is." Sly was suddenly tense, now expecting a yelling at from her.

"Oh, you know about what happened to Sara?" he asked nervously.

"Yeah, Mz. Ruby sent a video requesting a ransom for her return."

"Oh," he said weakly.

"We'll come in and get him. He'll tell us where Sara is, whether he wants to or not," Carmelita vowed, the dark growl making Sly very glad that he (for once) was not the cause for her loss of temper.

Carmelita and Igor walked through the decommissioned factory, Interpol officers from the local center arresting the workers left and right. They walked into Muggshot's office where Sly said he was with Muggshot, but those two weren't the only ones there. Carmelita looked confusedly at Murray and Bentley who were standing in the office next to Sly. Sly walked up to Carmelita, hugged her, and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Sly, what's going on?" she asked in confusion at the presence of Bentley and Murray, who both looked ready to flee at the drop of a hat. Sly gulped, he had been hiding the truth for twelve years and now it had to come out.

"Carmelita… I have to tell you something. Back on Kaine Island all those years ago, when Dr. M. hit me with that laser and I told you I had no idea who I was. Well, I lied. I remember everything that happened to me all my life. I just lied so that we could be together." Carmelita stared at him blankly then burst out laughing, surprising him.

"Ringtail, how stupid do you think I am?" she asked, annoyed but in good nature as she gave him a playful punch in the arm. "I've known that you were faking for almost five years, ever since I followed you one night after I put Sara to bed."

"Oh. I guess once we've saved Sara I'll start packing," he said sadly. His usually upright tail sank to the floor as he turned back to his friends.

"Sly." He turned at her voice, caught by surprise when she kissed him deeply. She broke off the kiss and smiled up at him. "I was happy when I found you had lied. It told me that you cared about me more than your family's reputation." Sly smiled at his wife, still surprised at the complete lack of a screaming fit.

"Well, I decided that living with you is slightly less life threatening than thieving," he said in a false impressive voice.

"Slightly?" she giggled.

"This is why we only had one kid. I didn't think I could survive you being pregnant a second time." Bentley coughed to get everyone back in focus.

"Now, can we get Sara's location out of this guy so we can _get back to our lives_?" he asked in an annoyed tone. Carmelita pointed her thumb at Igor, who cracked his knuckles.

"Stand back, my father was student of the Contessa and he passed that on to me. She may have been corrupt but she had good methods for persuading criminals to talk. Just let 'the Wolfski' do his work." Murray growled.

"Watch it, if you parody my title again, you'll have a lot on your plate buddy." Everyone left Igor to do his work and a few hours later, he came with the information that Sara was being held prisoner by Mz. Ruby in Indonesia. They all followed Igor to the helicopter on top of the building and took it to Indonesia.

_Author's Note: Good chapter, sucky ending. Just one more chapter and the epilogue to go before Cooper Comeback comes to a close, so review; Geek out._


	11. The Final Hurtle

_Author's Note: I'd like to thank grayheart1233 for favoriting both me and my story. No reviews yet but I'm feeling good right now; listening to Paul Simon and Billy Joel does that to me. Still, just this chapter and the epilogue to go before the story ends, then I'll start posting the sequel. Geek out._

**Chapter 10:**

**The Final Hurtle**

The Interpol helicopter flew over the Indonesian jungles towards the mysterious volcano Muggshot had given Igor the information about. It touched down about a hundred feet away from the volcano's base, allowing everyone on board to exit and start exploring the volcano's base. Bentley was running his hand around the volcano's base, sure that there was a secret entrance somewhere.

"Jackpot!" he yelled triumphantly, feeling the crack of a doorway under his ungloved hand. He pushed in the hidden doorway, calling everyone to it.

"Bentley, you really are a wizard," said the ringtail thief in admiration.

"That's why it's my code name," he said smugly. Everyone entered the doorway into the mountainside, not knowing what was inside.

"Holy cow! It's a secret, underground temple!" Murray shouted helpfully as now I don't have to describe.

"This place is complex, finding Sara in this place will be like finding a very small needle in a very large haystack," he said, scratching the back of his head as he looked at the maze spread out before them. At that moment, drums started to play from the altar on the far side of the complex. On top of the altar was a raised stone platform, and on top of that was Sara, tied to it with several thick cords.

"Or not," he corrected himself.

"Come on, we have to get there before those drums stop playing," Sly shouted.

"Uh, why?" Murray asked, confused.

"Because the time they stop playing, is the time that those priests end Sara's life."

"You mean…living sacrifice?" Murray asked fearfully.

"Yeah, so hurry!" Everyone ran through the complex of passages, trying to make their way to the altar. It was after the third time that all of them passed each other that they realized they were going in circles. Everyone who had prominent ears had their ears perked as they heard the drums starting to go faster.

"We're running out of time!" she yelled breathlessly. Everyone started running again towards the altar, actually making some progress this time. They had just reached the stairs leading up the altar when the drums reached their climax. Several warriors attempted to stop them, failing at their real intent but managing to slow them down quite a bit. Murray had just blasted past all the guards and had allowed them to continue their progress when the drums stopped. Everyone in the group stopped when the drums did, shocked beyond belief by what had just happened. Carmelita collapsed in Sly's arms, overcome with what had happened. Those drums had been Sara's lifeline, and now they were stopped, her life had ended. Mz. Ruby yelled in triumph from the top of the altar.

"We won! Clockwerk shall be returned!" She held up a black motherboard, one like the one that had held Clockwerk's soul before.

"A hate chip!" he shouted.

"That must have been what Raleigh was doing, making a new hate chip!" Mz. Ruby dashed off towards an assembly area at the end of a long road. Carmelita dashed after Mz. Ruby, both going faster than anyone had ever seen before. Mz. Ruby dodged every single one of Carmelita's shock bolts along the way until she entered the building. Carmelita burst in afterward, looking around for the crocodilian priestess. She stalked along the sides of a deep pit; Mz. Ruby would never go in there. There were no doors leading to other rooms, this was the only one but Mz. Ruby was nowhere to be found. She turned her back on the pit, feeling the wall for any secret passageways. Meanwhile, a large pair of glowing yellow eyes rose far above her, glaring down at the top of her head. Igor burst in, panting from the long run to the assembly area.

"Inspector, look out!" he shouted as he looked at the towering form.

"What?"

"B-B-B-BIG BIRD!" shouted the terrified Slavic lupine. Carmelita turned around and saw a form she hadn't seen for thirteen years, the form of the giant mechanical owl, Clockwerk. Clockwerk pointed the cannon on his back at Carmelita, firing a round of bolts as he did so. She dodged his attack and launched shock bolts at his sides. The projectiles which had once been so effective at weakening Clockwerk's defenses had absolutely no effect.

"Nice try, Inspector. I had a few modifications added to my new body, including a shielding system. Now, I end the Cooper line!" He brought his beak down at lightning speed, barely missing Carmelita as she dodged to the side.

Meanwhile, back at the altar where Sara had been sacrificed to bring back Clockwerk's soul, Bentley tried to comfort both of his overcome friends. Murray was crying heavily, being the big hearted person he was but even his anguish was nothing to Sly's. He was holding Sara's cold hand tightly, burying his snout in her hair. No tears escaped, there was too much sadness for that to happen, and there was work to be done. He raised his face from Sara's and glared at the assembly area where he could just see the tips of two giant wings. A loud cackle burst out behind them, making the Cooper Gang turn to the source. It was Mz. Ruby, holding the rolled up scroll that had ended Sara's life.

"So, the great Cooper Gang all strung up by the death of a little girl?" she teased. Murray growled at the priestess, a mixed look of sadness and fury on his face.

"You're a monster; hurting a sweet, innocent little girl like Sara for your own ends. I should string you up by all that jewelry and hang you from a tree!" He ran towards Mz. Ruby, hitting the tree behind her as she dodged out of the way.

"Now there, being an expert in the ways of voodoo I'm an expert businesswoman. I can make a deal with y'all to bring the darlin' little girl back. You, big lug; you'd probably do just about anything to bring back little Sara right? If so, the voodoo spirits would be willing to trade your soul for hers on one condition. That you can prove you are a mighty warrior, who can provide some entertainment to the voodoo gods. It's either they getting a hippo gladiator, or a raccoon cub sandwich." Murray nodded to her.

"I will do this for the sake of little Sara. You want me to be your voodoo gladiator? I say: BRING IT ON!" he shouted. Murray's body collapsed as a small pink wisp sank through the stone wall on the other side of the altar.

"Murray!" they shouted after their friend.

_Voodoo Spirit World_

Murray floated down to the ground in a place covered in mist. The only thing that could tell him where to go were feminine screams coming from somewhere far off.

"Sara!" He ran through the mist towards Sara's screams, knocking out the circle of shadow ghosts that had surrounded her. He cracked his knuckles upon seeing more shadow ghosts appearing and ran at them with a bellow. He punched the ghosts to the side, relishing how they disintegrated at his punches. Even though he knew he could hold them off for a long time, he still worried about Sara, would Mz. Ruby keep her word?

_Indonesia_

Sly dashed down the road to the assembly area, Bentley rolling himself right on Sly's heels. They burst through the door to the assembly area, watching as Carmelita and Igor dodged Clockwerk's attacks.

"Clockwerk! Leave them alone, it's me you wanted anyway." Clockwerk turned to Sly, glaring at the raccoon who had destroyed him.

"So, Sly Cooper. You expect me to spare anyone carrying the name Cooper?" he asked.

"Leave her out of this, you took my daughter, mother, and father Clockwerk, but you aren't taking my wife as well," he swore.

"Oh don't worry, your daughter isn't really dead, neither was I. That pink buffoon will free her at his own expense, sending her straight into my talons."

"You leave my family alone!" Sly shouted. He leapt at Clockwerk, swinging his cane at the bird's face. Sly was pinned to the wall by Clockwerk's foot, a small gun popping out of the leg.

"So, you don't want me to touch your daughter? How about I just make it so that she ends up just like you did? I kill you and your wife, your friends as well, but still spare her so she can live in an orphanage and turn into a useless urchin like you."

"You stay away from them, I don't care if I die but I will not let you touch these people," he spat.

"Oh, it seems I am defeated. There is no way my sheer raw power can stand up to your great statements," Clockwerk laughed gloatingly. The gun pointed straight at his face, readying to end his life. A shock bolt destroyed the gun, making Clockwerk turn to Carmelita, brushing her hair out of her face as she pointed the gun at one of the cold yellow eyes. The eyes stared straight into Carmelita's, making her drop the gun and look away, she remembered the look of those eyes staring at her. Weeks upon weeks of enduring those eyes staring into hers, unable to get away. Clockwerk laughed at her trying to get away from his glare. Sly took advantage of Clockwerk's distraction, slipped out of the talons, and clambered onto Clockwerk's back. He positioned himself behind Clockwerk's head, noticing a small weak spot at the neck joint. Sly brought his cane up and slammed the point of the hook into the joint. Clockwerk reeled back from the strike to his body, straight into the main processor. Sly tried to pull the cane out, but all that happened was that Clockwerk's wings rose. He put it back down and Clockwerk's wings mimicked the movement. Sly started pumping the cane up and down once the comprehension settled in, raising the giant mechanical body out of the assembly area. He made Clockwerk fly towards the altar of the temple, straight at Mz. Ruby. Clockwerk's talons opened up, pointing the palms of them at Mz. Ruby and the wall. Mz. Ruby barely had time to gasp as Clockwerk's talons grabbed her and drove her along with Clockwerk into the wall. The wall cracked heavily, releasing several wisps of what looked like colored smoke. Sly took advantage of both Clockwerk's distraction and the fact his cane had been jostled free, looking into the hole to see the hate chip protruding from it. He grabbed the chip, deactivating Clockwerk's body and ran towards the largest crack in the wall. Sly held the hate chip just inside the crack and shouted to the spirits.

"I'll make a deal with you! You want a snack? Here's a bigger snack than my daughter! You want a gladiator to fight? Here's an even greater gladiator than Murray! I'll give you these two if you release Raymond Murray and Sara Cooper!" The wisps of mist that had now started to block the cracks opened up slightly to allow a pink and a silver-blue smoke wisp to exit. It then reached out tendrils, grabbing Mz. Ruby, Clockwerk, and the hate chip; bringing them into the wall. The wall started fusing with Clockwerk's body, twisting it and morphing together until in the walls place was a giant statue, Clockwerk's body turned to stone. The pink and silver-blue souls hovered over the two bodies, each returning to their owner. Murray got up from the floor where he had fallen, rubbing his head after the great knock it had gotten. Sly moved over to Sara's body on the altar and finally started removing the cords from her wrists, ankles, and chest. She groaned and got off the altar, rubbing her eyes. Sara looked up at her father, slightly confused by his unkempt fur and some tears in his shirt.

"D-Daddy?" she asked in a frightened voice. Her father smiled and reached down to pick her up. Murray walked forward and grabbed both of them in a huge bear hug. A yell came from down the road to the assembly area making them all turn to see Carmelita, Bentley, and Igor walking down the pathway.

"Sara!" She ran towards the group. Sara was taken by her mother, embraced tightly, and kissed all over the top of her head. Bentley wheeled up to Sly and Murray, sharing a triumphant moment with his friends. Igor stayed content to stand to the side, bathing in his own feeling of doing something for once. All three of the Coopers were in a tangle of hugging, both parents hugging each other with Sara squished in-between. Igor stayed still awhile, not wanting to ruin the moment but when he looked at his watch he had to break it up.

"Okay, it's really late. We need to load up in the helicopter and head back to Paris if we can," he informed them.

"Yes, you're right. Let's go." She carried Sara as she and everyone else made their way to the helicopter so they could return to Paris.

_Author's Note: Woo, the Fiendish Three are defeated, now we get to see Interpol's reaction to all this, stay tuned for the Epilogue. Geek out. _


	12. Epilogue

**Epilogue:**

Everyone who had been at the volcano in Indonesia was sitting in front of the desk of the Chief who had given Carmelita the say so to go after Sara.

"Well, you were right that I would get my criminals. Not three, but four criminals actually: Muggshot, Sir Raleigh, Rajan, and General Tsao."

"How'd you get those last two?" Sly asked, confused.

"The Panda King delivered them to us after you and your gang left. But, what happened to Mz. Ruby and Clockwerk?" the chief asked.

"You may not believe me sir but they were trapped in the spirit world." The chief rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Well, I guess I've seen enough to believe just about anything. What I wanted to say to you all was a great big congratulations. I think it's about time that we gave most of you a promotion. Carmelita, you've been with Interpol for many years and stayed an Inspector for so many years, this promotion is way overdue. I feel that it's time that I retired so, Carmelita, I am promoting you to Chief of this department." Carmelita's eyes began to water out of emotion.

"Thank you," she sniffed happily, hugging Sly tightly. The ex-chief then turned to Sly.

"Sly, you have proven that you are extremely efficient at not only catching criminals but retrieving stolen objects. This has inspired me to ask the other Interpol officials to create a new department. We have agreed to create this new department and make you the head of it." Sly's eyes widened in shock at this news.

"Wait, I'm getting my own department?" he stuttered.

"Yes, we are making you head of the department for the Retrieval of Illegally Obtained Objects. We are also interested in recruiting Mr. Green and Mr. Murray for the department. You'll be doing almost exactly what you did before except it's legal," he explained.

"I would be honored to join this new department," he said gratefully.

"Same here."

"Then, we have the first three employees of our new department: Chief Cooper, Inspector Green, and Constable Murray. Now, Warden Wolfski; your help was a great factor in the success of this mission. I heard that the Russian military refused your application. Well, let' see what they think of you when they learn that I am promoting you to Inspector of Carmelita's department.

"Inspector? That's skipping about four promotions!" he shouted in shock.

"We need a new Inspector and you're the best candidate for the job," the chief smiled.

"Well, thank you sir," Igor stuttered.

"Good work everybody, you all deserve a vacation. Sly, Carmelita, I think that it might be good for you to spend the time with your daughter, she had a big scare. Goodnight to you all." He tipped his hat to them all and exited the office, holding the door open for everyone to file out. Igor stopped after exiting and shook the Chief's hand so hard that his own hat fell off his head. "Goodnight, Wolfski," the Chief laughed out, pushing Igor into the hall.

Down at the exit, the Coopers were saying goodbye to their friends.

"Well, see you guys in a couple of weeks," Sly said to his friends.

"Yeah, what are you gonna do?" Murray asked.

"I think that it would be nice to visit Carmelita's family in Spain.": "That's nice; I'm going to take Penelope to an RC Combat Robot competition before..." At that moment, Bentley's Binocucom started ringing. He pulled it up. "Yeah, this is Bentley. What is it…w-_what_? Today? Right now? Okay I'll be right over!" he shouted excitedly, starting to wheel away.

"Hey, what's up?" Sly shouted after Bentley.

"You're not the only one in the gang who's a father anymore!" Bentley declared. Sly and Murray looked at each other in shock then turned back to Bentley's retreating form.

"Really? Well congratulations!" Sly shouted.

"I got to run! And just to repel any sarcastic comments from you, it's a figure of speech." Sly laughed at his friend's foresight. Murray clapped Sly on the back once Bentley was out of sight.

"Well, I think I'm going to take a nice road trip in the…" Murray's eyes grew huge in realization. He started running down the parking lot, going to the west.

"What are you doing?" Sly shouted.

"I left the van in New York City!" he shouted. Sly caught up to Murray and held him back.

"Don't worry; you can get the van back later. Why don't we take you to the airport where you can get a ride?" he offered.

"Thanks," Murray sighed in relief. Sara walked up to Murray and hugged him.

"Thank you for saving me from the ghosts," she thanked.

"Aww, you're welcome kid." Murray hugged Sara back. Sara's mother led her away by the hand once the hug broke off as Sly and Murray followed behind.

"By the way, _I'm _driving," Sly informed Murray with his classic grin.

As the two parties broke up, a violet mist formed the form of an anthropomorphic being watching them.

"So, a new Cooper. This makes things that much more interesting," the form said ominously.

_Author's Note: And there you have it! Cooper Comeback is over so review it because we all know how much you loved it. Be prepared tomorrow for the arrival of the sequel: Sara Cooper Trilogy: Return of the Thief. _


End file.
